Memories Come Together
by Xekon
Summary: however diverse, their lives are connected, and together their memories tell each other's stories.
1. Away From the Sun

"Riku, you know what needs to be done," I nod at Diz's words. Of course I knew what needed to be done, but I didn't like it. Yet the choice was clear. In order for Sora to awaken, I'd have to track his Nobody down and bring him back here. There was something else, id have to take her too.

Xion, the girl who looked just like Kairi and was a Keyblade Wielder. She's near the end of her existence, as she wants to return to Sora. It seemed cruel to destroy them, but I don't have a choice. Sora would do the same for me.

Ansem is making himself ever present in my heart. Now it is necessary for me to wear a blindfold in order to keep him at bay. My eyes cannot lie and tell me I'm still all me, but I can cope without them. It's time for me to act, the worlds need Sora.

….

Xion….was that her name? She made the ultimate sacrifice and gave her life away despite what she knew would happen. Nothing would remain of the Replica, not even a memory, as that was all she was. Now all that remains for me is the true Nobody, Roxas.

…

"Why! Why do you have the keyblade?" I seethed. Roxas looked at the blade in his hand, then back to me.

"Shut up!" he retorted. Roxas slashed at me, but I leapt up from the ground and parried his blow, launching him several feet backwards. He lay motionless on the ground, seemingly unconscious. I drove my borrowed keyblade into the ground beside him, then gasped when he suddenly rose up and grabbed it. Roxas charged me with a renewed ferocity, cutting through the dark fira I fired at him as if it were nothing. When he knocked me to the ground again, I knew I had no choice.

Even if this changes me forever, I knew I had to do it. My hand slid the blindfold off of my eyes, and that concluded my trip towards the light.

And began my trip away from the sun.


	2. When I'm Gone

"I'll you some time to think. You'll find me when you're ready, Xion." Riku said as he helped me stand. I felt numb inside, like I was plunging head first through ice. Riku had told me everything. I was a Replica created by Vexen at Castle Oblivion. My purpose was to double the keyblade's power by stealing Sora's memories of Kairi. My entire existence was a plague that ravaged those I touched.

When I came back, Roxas' eyes lit up. How can he not see what I've been doing to him? He ran and got Axel and the three of us went to the clock tower. Axel noticed how quietly I sat there, ice cream remaining untouched. I wondered if he knew about me. Roxas too began to realize the silence from me. A plan had wormed its way into my head. I'd go see Riku again soon and see what more he had to tell me. My mind was too foggy to decide.

"Xion, come home," Roxas begged.

"I can't," Saix had pushed me over the edge. Now I knew for sure what my choice would be. If I could only force Roxas to destroy me, then maybe Sora would wake up. I drew my keyblade and Roxas released my hand. Out of nowhere, Axel's chakram raced for my head, and I swiftly blocked with my keyblade. Axel emerged next.

"Stop it!" Roxas screamed. Axel and I had been trading blows for a matter of seconds before Roxas tried to intervene. That was my chance to rescue Sora. If I stopped, I hoped Axel wouldn't. A gloved hand cracked down on the base of my neck and unconsciousness swept over me.

"Of all the faces, why is it I look at her and see yours? Why do you always look at me like I just drowned your goldfish?" Xigbar mused sarcastically. I was certain I knew what he was talking about, but it didn't concern me, only reassured me I was doing what was right. Axel stared at me in shock when I coldly knocked Xigbar unconscious then opened a dark corridor. I had to go to the Old Mansion in Twilight Town, a girl named Namine was waiting for me.

"No one can remember you, Xion," Namine warned," you are composed of Sora's memories and aren't a Nobody. You'll disappear completely."

"I understand. This is what's right, for everyone." Riku burst into the room and said the Organization had found us. I ran outside. The person who was coming, I knew who they were.

Axel came through a dark corridor. He argued with me. Axel had known all along what I was, but he still wanted me back. However, this would not deter me, nothing would.

Axel had managed to bring me back again, but once more I escaped. This time, I fought Roxas and gave myself no chance to survive. Of course, Roxas won without a problem. I fell to the ground, dying. With my last strength, I asked myself one last question.

Will anyone try to remember me when I'm gone?


	3. Here Without You

Yesterday Saix assigned me heart collecting, just like the day before. Today's mission was, surprise, heart collecting. Is he going for a new record or did he just get set on repeat? You'd like Xion, Axel. She's the new member and she can use a keyblade too. I wanted to bring her up here with me to the clock tower today, but I needed to ask you first. Do you think we can be friends with her too?

You've been gone for a few days now. I'm worried because Xigbar said someone's been terminated. Was it you, Axel? I've started taking Xion out for ice cream after work. She likes sea salt too and I think we've become friends. I hope that's ok Axel. How much longer until we can all have ice cream together like I promised?

How long has it been now? I passed out on a mission awhile back and only just woke up yesterday. You're still gone, and will probably never come back. Saix said everyone at Castle Oblivion has been terminated, but that can't be right. No one can kill you, right Axel? Today Xion and I teamed up to take down a giant heartless and went to get ice cream afterwards, but it wasn't the same.

Here's not the same without you.


	4. Going Down In Flames

"Which would you rather suffer the loss of, some make-believe friendship, or a real one?" Saix asked coldly. Frankly, I'd like to crack his claymore over his head for this, but apparently that would cause me to lose favor in Xemnas' eyes. Really, I'd lost a make believe friendship years ago, but who needs details? Saix turned his back on me and frigidly continued on about Xemnas' displeasure at current events. Like I really concerned myself with the annoyances of someone who brainwashed my friends.

Who is Isa to call a friendship a sham? Xion knows what friendship means better than he ever did. It doesn't matter that she's a Replica, she's my friend.

My friend…who ran away. Again. Man, why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs? So, here I am, caught between taking her home to be destroyed or letting her stay here to be…destroyed. So many options, so little difference.

"Axel," she nearly pleads as she summons her keyblade," please don't hold back." Rage sweeps over me like a torrent of flames outside of my control.

"Fine! You just keep running! But I'll always be here to bring you back!"

I won, but at what cost? Xion's here, but now Roxas is gone. I just can't get a break, can I?

Great. Just great. I took a five minute nap and Xion ran off again. I have no clue what that girl thinks she's doing, but after our fight, I know it can't be good. Might as well go track her down. And Roxas. Whichever comes first.

"there's no need for you to hunt down the puppet, Axel," Saix stopped me icily," your friend disposed of it." No! It can't be true! I trudged back to my room dejectedly.

"How did this happen?" I asked myself. My foot suddenly connected with a paper. Curiously, I reached down and picked up the small white envelope. A winner stick was stuck inside, and it was apparent to me who had left it. Roxas. How long ago had he gotten this? That was it. No longer would I act on Xemnas' orders. Id only act for my benefit from now on.

So now Xemmy wants me to retrieve Roxas from a digital Twilight Town. Fine by me, I was hoping to get him back anyway. If he won't come back of his own accord, the organization wants me to destroy him. That'll never happen.

"Alright Roxas!" I applauded. The boy had just whipped the floor with the best fighter in Twilight Town.

"Do I, know you?" Roxas asked suspiciously.

"Come on, you're joking right? We're friends, remember?" Roxas continued to stare at me blankly," you really don't remember." The non-existent strings of my heart tugged and pulled. The world began to unfreeze, so I departed.

I kept returning to Twilight Town, but my efforts barely changed a thing. Finally, the last day of the operation came. We fought in the streets, and then out of nowhere, I just froze. When I could finally move again, Roxas wasn't there anymore.

"The Roxas I know is long gone," I mused sullenly. He must've headed towards the Old Mansion.

"Axel, we're friends, remember?"

"Oh, now you remember me?" I replied hotly," Well it's too late!"

"Let's meet again, in the next life," I smiled weakly. Roxas smiled back

"Ok." I laughed softly

"Just because you have a next life…."I slowly faded through a dark corridor. My last chance was gone. This member would no longer stand for Xemnas' tyranny. The side of light could use a good mercenary, right? The organization would soon go up in smoke.

I, however, was going down in flames.


	5. All Summer Long

Lea

Lea paced back and forth outside the door, apprehensively awaiting the doctor to announce Isa's condition. It was his fault, all his fault that Isa had ended up here. If he'd just left the guards alone Isa wouldn't have gotten hurt. Ah, who was he kidding, Isa could that that! Just as Lea had nearly made up his mind to leave, the grim faced doctor emerged from the operating room.

"Well?" Lea demanded, "Is he ok?"

"Yes, yes, but I'm afraid his right arm has been broken."

"Does that mean he can't write with it anymore?" The doctor laughed heartily.

"Oh, he'll be able to write with it again, yes, but not for quite some time." Lea's eyes darkened in horror. Isa was working on an extra credit project, _over their summer break, _and now that he couldn't write, that meant….

"Can't you fix his arm faster, like stitch it together or something?" Lea shook the doctor, who he was easily a few inches taller than, in his frustration.

"I'm afraid not. This is a delicate process that cannot be rushed. Perhaps you'd like to keep him company until he can leave?"

"Yeah, I'll do that," Lea numbly walked past the doctor, but stopped with his hand on the doorknob. What is Isa was mad? Lea ran to Isa's house and picked that lock, as he had yet to "borrow" Isa's key to make his own yet. Although, he had found out where Isa hid his most expensive and precious possessions. Isa, was clever, Lea had to admit.

"But," Lea thought a he climbed onto a chair and slid back a loose ceiling tile, "I'm better. Heck, I've taught him everything he knows." Inside the crawl space were two laptops, six Kindles, a flat screen TV, a few videogame systems, and a portable DVD player. Lea carefully packed all the portable devices into a backpack and hurriedly returned to the hospital. Isa was reading a magazine on the solar system when Lea opened the door, looking very much like he wanted to throw the nearest heaviest object at the nurse who was poking and prodding his plaster incased arm.

"So," Lea asked once the annoying nurse had left," when do you get to leave?"

"_After they run a few more tests_," Isa grumbled irritably, then nodded gratefully at Lea when presented with the bag. Isa went straight for the laptop and opened a window to his science extra credit report. Lea wondered what was so wrong with his friend that he actually _volunteered _for summer school. As in, for fun.

"Tests? C'mon, seriously? They put your arm in a cast, say its broken, and _then _run some tests? You need a better doctor, Isa."

"Lea, you were the one who dragged me here," Isa reminded.

"What? They had better medical treatment back in my day," Lea defended.

"We're the same age, Lea; therefore we share the same "day" so to speak." The doctor opened the door before Lea could form a satisfactory retort and hustled Isa out of the room. Out of curiosity, Lea began scanning through the paper his friend was writing, and instantly became bored. Lea stopped a few works into the first sentence. His eyes were blurring at all the big astronomical words. _Man,_ Lea thought, _Isa's such a nerd!_ Instead, he began playing Global Operations on the computer, and quickly lost track of how many times he died in Argentina. After his first mission, which lasted nearly an hour, Isa had finally rejoined Lea in his room.

"Let's go," Isa closed the laptop on his friend's fingers, stuffed it in the bag, and forced Lea to carry the whole thing again.

. . .

"Come on, Isa, let's go get some ice cream, I'll even buy it," Lea tried vainly to drag Isa out of the library and away from his massive stack of books.

"Oh no, Lea, you're not getting out that easily," Isa tugged Lea back into his chair, "this is your fault, now start writing…"

By the time Isa finally relented and allowed him to take an ice cream break, Lea's hand felt as if it was about to fall off. Unknown to Lea, Isa took off his cast and smirked to himself. He and that doctor had had a long conversation about Lea, and he had said it would be his pleasure to help Isa teach his friend a valuable lesson.

Lea returned to the library around closing time. Isa piled several books into Lea's arms, slung his bag over one shoulder, and led his new pack mule/ slave to his house. As Lea's vision began to dim sometime around midnight, a horrible realization struck him like a sack of bricks. He was gonna be stuck doing Isa's homework all summer long.


End file.
